Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) Shares Sold by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its holdings in shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) by 20.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 910,165 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 234,175 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.12% of Southern Copper worth $82,944,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in Southern Copper during the third quarter worth $1,397,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of Southern Copper by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 8,424 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $975,000 after purchasing an additional 753 shares during the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC lifted its stake in Southern Copper by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 16,751 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,938,000 after buying an additional 441 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in Southern Copper in the 3rd quarter worth about $7,735,000. Finally, M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in Southern Copper by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 20,460 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,367,000 after buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. 7.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southern Copper Stock Performance

NYSE SCCO opened at $84.51 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a current ratio of 2.77. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $92.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $99.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $67.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.04. Southern Copper Co. has a fifty-two week low of $74.84 and a fifty-two week high of $127.34.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.02 by ($0.01). Southern Copper had a net margin of 29.53% and a return on equity of 40.27%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Southern Copper Co. will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.31%. This is an increase from Southern Copper’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on SCCO shares. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Southern Copper from $52.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. UBS Group raised shares of Southern Copper from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Southern Copper presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $94.42.

About Southern Copper

Southern Copper Corporation engages in mining, exploring, smelting, and refining copper and other minerals in Peru, Mexico, Argentina, Ecuador, and Chile. The company is involved in the mining, milling, and flotation of copper ore to produce copper and molybdenum concentrates; smelting of copper concentrates to produce blister and anode copper; refining of anode copper to produce copper cathodes; production of molybdenum concentrate and sulfuric acid; production of refined silver, gold, and other materials; and mining and processing of zinc, copper, molybdenum, silver, gold, and lead.